Live poultry trade banned as China moves to contain bird flu

Bill Savadove

Cities in eastern China where the H7N9 bird flu outbreak has killed six people are moving to prevent the virus spreading by banning the live poultry trade as well as culling fowl.

Nanjing city has shut markets selling live poultry to its more than 8 million residents, while Hangzhou has culled birds after discovering infected quail, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Two more people were confirmed to have been infected with the virus in Shanghai, state media said, bringing to 18 the number of cases since authorities last week announced the virus had been detected in humans.

The human infections have been confined to eastern China, with Shanghai recording eight, including four deaths, and the other two fatalities in the neighbouring province of Zhejiang. Other cases are scattered across the provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui.

Trapped: A Chinese health worker snares a pigeon at a park in Shanghai. Photo: AFP

Shanghai had ordered a ban on live poultry trading and markets after culling more than 20,500 birds at an agricultural market in a western suburb on Friday.

At a local market in the city centre, two live poultry booths were dark and the cages within empty, as a uniformed worker sprayed disinfectant from a tank on his back.

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''People are worried,'' said Yan Zhicheng, a retired factory manager who, like many elderly people, makes a daily trip to market.

''Shanghai people eat a lot of duck and chicken. Now, we can't touch them.''

Shanghai has also banned live poultry from other parts of China entering the city and the sale of wild birds, including those intended as pets, the local government said in a statement on its website. But eggs remain on sale in the city, as well as fresh and frozen poultry meat, although officials encourage people to cook them well.

Chinese authorities maintain there is no evidence of human-to-human transmission, a conclusion echoed by the World Health Organisation.